SEAL LIFE ON THE PRIBILOF ISLANDS. 117 



although it may possibly sometimes feed near the surface. The writer 

 does uot maiutaiu that seals can go to the bottom in 100 fathoms, but 

 he does believe that they can dive much deeper than is generally supposed. 



All the hunters on this day reported seals plentiful, but could And 

 very few asleep. Had the sun been shining it is safe to say that the 

 majority of thqse with food in their stomachs would have slept during 

 the greater part of tlie day, for as a rule seals with full stomachs sleep 

 when the sun is out, the air warm, and the sea smooth, or comparatively 

 so. Their time of sleepii)g, however, is not always when conditions are 

 favorable, for after a gale of long duration they are frequently seen 

 asleep when the air is cold and the sea uncommonly high, at such times 

 being completely exhausted. It is not an infrequent sight during the 

 winter and spring months, at the end of a long and heavy gale, to see 

 seals sleeping soundly in a snow storm, the exposed portion of their 

 body being covered with snow. In consequence of the seals being rest- 

 less on tills day, a great many of the 34 taken were what is known to 

 sealers as " tinners," that is, about half asleep, rolling about and scratch- 

 ing themselves. Sometimes " tinners" are hard to approach, and at 

 other times very easy. A restless one will try very hard to take a nap, 

 but just as he gets comfortably fixed something disturbs him, and holding 

 his liead u]) he will take a look all around as if danger were scented. 

 They are then difficult to spear. 



Indians seldom pay any attention to moving seals when hunting with 

 spears; they think it a waste of time. White hunters, when they can 

 find no sleeping seals, frequently give chase to " finners" and " travel- 

 ers," and in many cases are lewarded for their trouble. The hunters 

 on the Olsen soon found that few seals could be taken on certain days 

 if they only selected sleepi 1 1 g ones. Many haphazard throws were made 

 at swimming and finning seals, the majority of which were failures, but 

 enough good shots were made to make the experiment a paying one. 



For several days seals had been observed chasing some kind of fish, 

 and during this last day's hunt they were quite plentiful. Only a 

 single individual would be seen ; it would dart first in one direction 

 and then in another, and occasionally would make a desperate leap 

 out of the water. Presently a seal would be noticed not far oft swim- 

 ming as rapidly and in as many difierent directions as the fish. On 

 the day in question 2 seals were speared just as they came to the 

 surface, each with one of these fish in its mouth. The seals did not 

 relinquish their hold when speared, but kept a firm grip until knocked 

 on the head. The fish proved to be Alaskan i)ollock. Both of the 

 seals were large males, one ])robably between 8 and 10 years old. 



The two following days, August 8 and 9, the weather was too boister- 

 ous for sealing; wind southeast and every indication of a gale. We lay 

 to under the foresail in order to keep as near our position as possible. 

 A heavy sea set in from the westward, but the wind did not increase 

 above a strong breeze. Scattering seals were about each day, all trav- 

 eling to the westward. From observation we learned that during 

 stormy weather seals traveled in an opposite direction to the wind. In 

 a gale they are far more luimerous on the lee side of the Pribilof 

 Islands than to the windward of them. When the wind is heavy and 

 the sea rough seals as a rule travel from the seal islands directly to 

 leeward or nearly so. Just how nnicli the wind changes the course of 

 the main body of seals would be hard to say, but so far as our investi- 

 gations extended, in connection with the traveling herd which came 

 under our notice, Ave are inclined to think that seals within 100 miles 

 of the seal islands bound to the feeding grounds will, in most cases, 



